Waverly co-counsel in Volusia investigation pulls out to avoid fight

Thursday

Jul 31, 2014 at 6:15 PMJul 31, 2014 at 11:01 PM

By Andrew Gantandrew.gant@news-jrnl.com

One of two attorneys investigating Waverly Media for the Volusia County Council withdrew from the case Thursday to preempt a coming conflict-of-interest challenge from Waverly’s attorneys.Noah McKinnon, while he stood by his position that the challenge was baseless, said he took himself off the case to avoid another protracted legal battle in an investigation the council approved nine months ago.“The objection to my representing the county has no legal basis,” McKinnon said Thursday afternoon. “However, litigating that issue would be costly and will delay the goals and objectives of the investigation. I have withdrawn from the case in order to expedite a final resolution of all of the issues in this matter.“It’s not about me,” he added. “It’s about trying to get this case resolved.”An attorney for Waverly Media had confirmed Wednesday that he was preparing a motion to have McKinnon removed from the court case. The company hired McKinnon in 2009 for legal representation involving its bus-bench advertising contracts in DeLand, and Waverly contends he could have confidential information that could give him and Volusia’s hired “inspector general” Jon Kaney an unfair advantage in the case.McKinnon first learned of the challenge Wednesday. He said he had a “very limited” role consulting with Waverly and didn’t remember details of it. But he also hinted that he didn’t want his presence to delay or distract from Kaney’s investigation.That investigation has been stalled while a group of potential witnesses have challenged its legality. The court challenge has put Kaney against Ted Doran, Justin Kennedy and Waverly’s Jim Sotolongo, Ramara Garrett and Kim Was. Doran ran for Volusia County chair in 2012. Kennedy ran for a council seat in 2012 and is in the race again this year.The Volusia County Council approved its investigation in October and hired Kaney in response to an ongoing State Attorney’s Office investigation of Waverly’s political contributions to council candidates.Whether the council has the legal authority to hire an outside investigator like Kaney and hand its subpoena power to him has been debated on the council and by the county’s own attorney, who told the council he believes the county charter doesn’t allow it.A hearing on the issue is set for Aug. 15 in a circuit courtroom in DeLand.McKinnon’s withdrawal was one of two developments in the case Thursday. Doran, who already argued part of his case against the investigation at an earlier court hearing in June, officially filed his argument in court Thursday afternoon. In it, he wrote that the council’s investigation “violates the letter and spirit of the Volusia Charter” by sending Kaney to interview witnesses on his own. “Any such investigation must be conducted by the County Council before the council in session,” Doran wrote. “Investigatory authority cannot be delegated to a private person who is not an officer of the county.”Kaney has argued the charter allows the council to delegate its subpoena power, and he’s repeatedly said the remaining witnesses could end the investigation by answering his questions.The State Attorney’s Office investigation previously showed Waverly, which had contracts with Volusia and several cities to sell advertising space at public bus stops, manipulated some of its political contributions to skirt state campaign finance law. A former employee who has since died was sentenced to probation on three election fraud charges in the case.